practical instructions regarding the "order of service," "order in the school," and the "time of day and length of the session." How to grade the school and keep it graded is very plainly told, and much helpful information is given as to the conduct of the various departments. The writer evidently has in view a large city Sunday School; but superintendents and teachers in smaller schools can gain useful knowledge here. The assignment of teachers and the provision of substitutes are among the most difficult problems in many Sunday Schools, and our author discusses them well.

It is recommended that the "superintendent, ordinarily, should make no speeches." Particularly should he discourage the "average person" who, "when presented to a school, is immediately possessed to say something funny." Variety of entertainment is recommended for the "superintendent's five minutes." It is suggested to get some one to read the lesson in a foreign language, or have "a number of little girls dressed in white, without their hats, sing or recite Scripture," or "have a bright woman give her impressions on first reading Uncle Tom's Cabin," or "some one can be secured to give chapters on slavery experiences and scenes before the war! These things should be made to connect, though distantly it may be, with some subject that is being studied." Of course, a skillful, up-to-date superintendent is able to make some sort of connection between any possible topics.

The usual things are said in regard to teachers' meetings. The social functions of the school are insisted upon and illustrated. Methods are given for "the training of parents." The various officers and their offices are described. It is recommended that Bibles should take the place of lesson papers, quarterlies, &c., during the school hour. The author even goes further: "The best lesson helps should be provided for teachers; but we deem it better, on the whole, to let scholars secure their own, if they desire to use any. . . This may be the only possible way to insure the use of the Bible."

Reviews, Children's Day, Entertainments, and Special Days are all discussed.

This little book gives in readable form such instruction as we usually hear from the specialists who occupy the platform at Sunday School conventions. The directions given are plain and practicable, and, if followed, will doubtless make any Sunday School "Go." It is to be hoped, however, that our people will regard the direction we go as being as important a matter as the locomotion. The school following the directions of this book will go to much profit; but it will also go where ritualism entombs mediocrity, dead of self-complacency, in whitewashed sepulchers. Oxford, Miss.

W. D. HEDLESTON.

MEYER'S PAUL, A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST. PAUL, A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST. By Rev. F. B. Meyer. New York, Chicago, Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company. 1897. 12mo. Pp. 203. $1.00.

We confess to a decided liking for the author of this latest life of Paul. His simplicity, his earnestness, his practicalness, his reverence for Scripture,

his usual evangelical soundness, in spite of the estimate usually set upon him in our Church, make us enjoy reading what he publishes. The book before us is a preacher's life of the Apostle, or this life exhibited in twenty-one brief discourses. It is not the work of a critic or literary specialist, who comes forward with much display of erudition, investigation and critical acumen to settle the mooted questions as to the life and writings of Paul. There is no attempt to exhibit the pro and con. of any of these; there is no allusion to Baur, Pfleiderer, Harnack, etc. He tells us: "I have taken advantage of some of the latest books which have dealt with this subject; but for the most part the following pages contain the essence of years of my own thinking and preaching." He has studied his subject sympathetically and given us the results. Little exception can be taken to the results reached. Mr. Meyer accepts implicitly the statements of the Bible; he receives as Paul's the thirteen epistles accepted in all the ages as his; Hebrews he makes no allusion to and doubtless does not assign to Paul. The epistles are relied on much for auto-biographical delineation, and flash-light glimpses of the sublime character under contemplation. When the admiration of the author for his hero is intense there is nothing strained or overdrawn, scarcely anything, indeed, which does not appear fairly warranted. Probably his inference form Phil. 18, 19, that Paul had a "business account" with Philemon is a little far-fetched.

His view as to several of the small debated matters in Paul's life may be briefly stated. He thinks the two names were given at circumcision, the one for family, the other for business. Paul received no Greek culture. Was probably away from Judea during John's and Christ's ministries, else he would surely have seen them and told us so. Was doubtless a married manFarrar's view, based on Farrar's arguments. Was at Tarsus in retirement, before Barnabas sought him out, five or six years, plying his trade, studying, preaching as opportunity offered. The first visit to the Galatians was in the first journey, and due to his trouble, which was eye-trouble, probably—his "thorn in the flesh." The visit to Jerusalem referred to in Gal. ii., is the same as that in Acts xv. There were two imprisonments, with a two years' intermission, but Paul did not go to Spain.

.

Mr. Meyer is a firm believer in final perseverance, but he must be confused as to the extent of the Atonement; at least he confuses us when we try to determine what his view is. On pp. 10, 11, occurs the brief paragraph that contains all of this nature in this volume. Treating of Paul as one of the "Fore-known," and having quoted Rom. viii. 29, he says:

"It is not a complete solution of the mystery of Predestination, and only removes it one stage further back yet the suggestion casts a gleaming torchlight into the darkness of the impenetrable abyss when we are told that God included in the eternal purposes of life all those whom (sic) he foresaw would be attracted to an indissoluble union of faith and life with his Son. All who come to Jesus show that they were included in the Father's gift to his Son. The Father gave him all those who in the fulness of times should come. But why some have an affinity with the Man of the Cross and not others; why some come and others stay away; why some sheep hear the

Shepherd's voice and follow, while others persist in staying, is one of those secrets which are not revealed as yet to the children of men."

Certainly none of us is able to solve the mystery of predestination, why God chose some and passed by others: but we can all state the matter Scripturally, and Mr. Meyer has not done so here. The last sentence is not Scriptural, because the Bible does not call those that stay away "sheep." They stay away because they are not sheep, for the sheep know his voice and follow. See John x. The next to the last sentence, while true in one sense, is not intended, we fear, in that sense, and certainly inverts and transposes what Christ says in John vi. 37. The second sentence we make no objection to. In the first sentence the trouble is that "foresaw" is substituted for Paul's "foreknew," and the sentence becomes ambiguous, to say the best of it, more probably it is Arminian. Mr. Meyer certainly ought to know that προγινώσκειν is not the equivalent of προιδεῖν in Scripture, that it is more than simple prescience. It certainly involves choice in Rom. viii. 29, xi. 2, and 1 Pet. i. 20, the only passages where it has doctrinal significance in the New Testament. The cognates can be shown to agree in both Testaments. "The Lord knoweth them that are his ;" "The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish," &c.

The book is worthy of the author and will not weary in perusal, though of course about all that is new to one who has studied other lives of the Apostle and is familiar with the New Testament, is the method of presentation. It is a very much better popular life of Paul than Iverach's, which is the best we can compare it with.

The volume is well printed, neatly and durably, but not strongly bound, paper excellent, type clear. We noticed but one typographical error-the omission of a period with lack of spacing in the third from last line on page D. J. BRIMM.

91.

Columbia, S. C.

CORNILL'S PROPHETS OF ISRAEL.

THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL: Popular Sketches from Old Testament History. By Carl Heinrich Cornill, Doctor of Theology and Professor of Old Testament History in the University of Konigsberg. Translated by Sutton F. Corkran. Second edition. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company. 1897. Pp. 194.

The dimensions of this book are not to be taken as a fair index to its importance. It would be classed, I suppose, as a duodecimo. The paper upon which it is printed, while not specially fine, is rather thick. The type is bold, and the lines well leaded. Hence the amount of matter contained in its 198 pages is not more than a moderately rapid reader might compass in three or, at the outside, four hours. The importance of the book lies in the well known reputation of its author, the character of the positions which he takes, and verve with which he states and elaborates them. "The book," so its author informs us, "grew out of a course of lectures which I (he) was invited to deliver" in the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main. Professor Cornill is

not only a scholar, but is evidently also a man of fine gifts as a popular lecturer. More than once, while reading his pages, the wish has shaped itself that some conservative with similar gifts would undertake a similar service in a better cause. The times call for such books and lectures at the hands of those who, as we believe, hold the truth, as over against the errors of Cornill and his school. It is much to be regretted that the popular mind should receive its impressions of prophecy and history in Israel almost entirely from those who, like Cornill, hold that "the Israelitish narrative, as it lies before us in the books of the Old Testament, gives a thoroughly one-sided and in many respects incorrect pictures of the profane history, and on the other hand an absolutely false representation of the religious history of the people, and has thus made the discovery of the truth well nigh impossible."

The book, taken for what it is, has decided merits and attractions. It will open the eyes of the discriminating reader to the underlying principles and assumptions, and to the logical and legitimate results of the speculations of the school represented in Britain and America by writers like Driver, Geo. F. Moore, Briggs, and others. Cornill, in his way, is as pious as they are. Indeed, he tells us that, though he "has read the Book of Jonah at least a hundred times," he "cannot even now take up this marvelous book, nay, nor even speak of it, without tears rising" to his eyes. Not only so, but, along with much that is as little flattering to the writers of Holy Writ as the first statement quoted above, he utters many sentiments in reference to them which have about them at once less of condescension and as much or more of appreciative insight as the pious phrases with which such a writer as, for instance, Canon Cheyne, is wont to interlard and honey his attacks upon the essential integrity and intelligence of the Old Testament writers. No one, however, can be in any doubt as to the real attitude of Cornill towards the prophets of Israel. He håles them, one and all, to his bar, and pronounces impartial (?) sentence upon them, justifying, modifying or reversing their respective teachings, as, in his judgment, the case may demand. He must be dull, indeed, who, after reading this book, fails to perceive that, should the principles of the school for which it stands prevail, then, in the future, we will have to turn not to the writers of the Old or, for that matter, to those of the New Testament for our religious views, but always, at least finally, to writers like Cornill.

Again, the book is valuable, because it makes it perfectly plain that at least one factor that has operated powerfully to shape the views expressed by Cornill is a lack of personal religious experience and of spiritual insight. There is, of course, a certain subjective element in this criticism for which the reader will have to make whatever allowance he may deem necessary. I speak from the standpoint of one who holds to what is usually known as the Reformed theology. In proof of my statement, I can only refer to one or two facts. One is that Cornill has evidently let go of the doctrine of justification by faith, and gives the impression that his doctrine of sin, and of the atonement, not to mention others, are hopelessly defective. Then, again, he juggles with the terms God and religion as a magician at a fair juggles with balls. Not only so, but he treats both God and religion alike as if they were

developments from a very inferior grade of original protoplasm. One wonders how much of objective reality is represented by these terms, and how far they stand for the mere objectified musings and speculations of minds passing from a state bordering closely on one of pure animalism to one of the high intelligence represented by "the best modern thought." One wonders further when and how, in the opinion of Cornill, god developed into God. The trouble is that one who regards God as a growth from so small and rotten a seed as god is clearly disqualified from being or becoming an intelligent and still more a sympathetic interpreter of Old Testament history and prophecy. The fact is that, the gulf between god and God is one that is simply impassable.

Further, the book is valuable for its concessions. I have space for only a single example. In closing, Professor Cornill says: "The whole history of humanity has produced nothing which can be compared in the remotest degree to the prophecy of Israel."

With all its excellencies, Professor Cornill's book is not without some obvious defects. A lack of space, however, will prevent the consideration of these.

The book is one which, if purchased, will be read with interest. It is one which, if read with discrimination, will be read with profit. Columbia, S. C.

SCHWESTER ANNA.

CLARK'S SCHWESTER ANNA.

W. M. MCPHEETERS.

A tale of German home life. By Felicia Buttz Clark. New York: Eaton & Mains. Cloth. 90 cents. Although it is not stated on the title page, this is manifestly a translation from the German. It bears all the earmarks of such work. Excepting the imperfections which usually adhere even to the best translations, the work is well done. It is the story of of a German girl, raised in a Lutheran home by pious parents. It is really a love story. The affection of the tender girl for a companion of her youth ripens into genuine love with maturer years. Their union is prevented by the opposition of the lover's proud mother. He goes to America, and she, being thrown into contact with the Methodists, joins that church and enters their Society of Deaconesses. The book describes the noble work of these Protestant Sisters of Charity, in nursing the sick, visiting the poor, and rescuing the fallen. During the epidemic of cholera at Hamburg, whither the heroine had hastened to nurse the patients, she meets with her long lost lover, who is brought in suffering with the dread disease. He recovers, and the lovers are eventually united in marriage, for no vows are demanded of the deaconesses. The only matters in this book which are apt to create an unfavorable impression upon the reader, unless he be a Methodist, are the odious comparisons between the Methodist and the Lutheran denominations. Lutherans will hardly admit such statements concerning their church as the following:

"There is no life in the Church. They are nominally Christians, but they know not the joy of pardoned sin, nor the fellowship with Christ which the Church felt in days gone by." (Pp. 113-114.)